Stellenbosch FC have a mountain to climb if they wish to qualify for the group stages of the CAF Confederation Cup, the second-tier competition of African club football.
On Sunday, the Winelands upstarts will play AS Vita Club in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The match will be the second leg of the second preliminary round after Stellenbosch defeated the Congolese 2-0 in the first leg at the Cape Town Stadium last Friday.
Stellenbosch may have caught a lucky break last week because AS Vita, former Champions League and Confederation Cup finalists, arrived in the Mother City in the early hours of Friday morning.
AS Vita’s Abdeslam Ouaddou, the former Moroccan national team player, was visibly upset after the match and said his players had not recovered from their nightmare trip to Cape Town.
He was not surprised that Stellenbosch scored two unanswered goals in the opening 12 minutes via Thabo Moloisane and Lehlohonolo Mojela.
“I think we only started the game in the second half because first half, we were still in the plane,” said Ouaddou, who also clashed with fans at the stadium when they threw water bottles at him at half-time.
Ouaddou dropped a bombshell before finishing the media conference by resigning from his post with immediate effect.
He said he was fed up with the poor travelling arrangements after his team arrived in Cape Town a few hours before kick-off after a 4 000km trip.
Whoever takes over the reins at AS Vita will ensure the team will not be fielding a disjointed outfit as was the case last week, when key players could not travel to South Africa because of visa problems.
Since 2004, the Congolese giants have regularly played in the Champions League or Confederation Cup, and have the pedigree that will steel the team for continental football.
The two-legged preliminary-round competition is Stellenbosch’s first foray into the continental tournament, and they will be hoping to make the group stages in their debut attempt.
The important two-goal advantage heading into Sunday’s second leg in Kinshasa may turn out to be the side’s saving grace, especially after they lost their Premiership opener 2-0 to Golden Arrows at Athlone Stadium last night.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Sekhukhune United will make their final bid to reach the Confederation Cup group stage.
Sekhukhune will host Angolans Lunda Sul on Saturday evening at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
Last week, Lunda Sul scored an injury-time goal and will enjoy a 1-0 advantage going into the second leg.
Sekhukhune coach Lehlohonolo Seema missed last week’s match because he was attending a coaching course in Lesotho, but he’ll be present to guide his charges at the Polokwane venue.
Elsewhere in South Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates are braced to reach the Champions League group stage.
After indifferent outcomes earlier this month, Sundowns have transformed into a racing certainty to reach the group stage of CAF’s blue-riband club competition.
Sundowns suffered back-to-back MTN8 defeats to Stellenbosch, and then last week bounced back with an emphatic 4-0 win against Mbabane Swallows of eSwatini at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville.
Swallows surrendered their home-ground advantage because their eSwatini venue did not conform to the required standards set by CAF.
On Saturday evening, Swallows will return to Atteridgeville for their Champions League second preliminary round, second leg clash.
With the 4-0 deficit after their first leg, it seems qualifying for the group stage is a pipe dream now that Sundowns have regained their best form, which was in evidence again in Tuesday night’s Tshwane derby against SuperSport United, which they won 2-0.
Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has lined up Bafana Bafana trio Aubrey Modiba, Khuliso Mudau and Teboho Mokoena for Saturday’s match after resting them against SuperSport United.
On Saturday evening, some 14km away, Orlando Pirates will host Botswana visitors Jwaneng Galaxy FC in the second leg of the second preliminary round.
In last week’s first leg, Pirates scored in either half to record a 2-0 victory over the Botswana champions at Botswana National Stadium.